


The Flames of Fear

by Erdariel



Category: Valdemar Series - Mercedes Lackey
Genre: Alberich is so not having fun, Gen, How Do I Tag, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, I mean I guess it's H/C since I added that one bit to the end, I'm not good at naming fics sorry, Trapped in a Burning Building, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-27 16:53:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20411110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erdariel/pseuds/Erdariel
Summary: One of Alberich's spy covers is blown, and a group of thieves and cutthroats decide to get rid of him.





	The Flames of Fear

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah this was mainly done because I like hurting characters sometimes, and with Alberich's background, what better way to do so than this? However, while I was putting this fic here, I started thinking about possible bigger story I could write following this, so I might continue somewhere from this in the future...

Alberich struggled against the men, kicked and hit, even bit one whose arm happened to be close enough. He used every dirty trick he knew, every inch of his strength, but he was alone against eight, and unable to draw even a knife with them restricting his arms. All his struggle was in vain.

Finally his strength was so nearly spent that four of them could restrict him easily enough, while the rest bound his hands and legs and gagged him. They pulled a dirty sack over his head so he couldn't see, and then dragged him away somewhere.

As he was dragged through dark alleys of the slums, Alberich suddenly saw on the edges of his vision a blue light, and what he saw shifted from vague darkness into a flash of future.

_A warehouse near the river, one of the many. Blazing, consumed by flames. He himself, inside, writhing in pain, burning, dying. Flames spreading, into the warehouses next to this one, then to other nearby buildings. Half the city burning - the slums near the Exile's Gate, the merchants' and craftsmen's districts, temples, workshops, homes, all being reduced into nothing but ash in a matter of hours. _

Fear froze Alberich's heart. He'd nearly burned to death once - he didn't want to feel the same pain again. But with the iron discipline he'd built through the years he forced himself to think, be rational instead of simply reacting. He rarely, if ever, had visions of things he couldn't change. The warehouse wasn't burning yet. 

_:Kantor:_, he called. He sent a flash of his vision, except for the part about himself, and the faces of his captors, who he guessed would be the ones to light the fire. _:Get the message across, get Heralds ready and bloody fast, and have them get whoever else is needed, or half the city will be lost!:_

He felt Kantor's slight alarm and affirmation, and knew Kantor would do the rest. All he could do now was wait and hope things went well. He had no control over anything now, maybe not even over his own life and death.

Not very long after, he was dropped on a cold stone floor. Someone pulled the sack off his head, then the same one of his captors took the gag off.

"Any last words?" the man said. "Better say them now, because soon enough you won't be telling them to anyone. You won't even be tattling them to your precious Heralds."

Alberich only glared at him. The man smiled. Then he and his gang turned away. One of them went to a pile of fabrics stored at one corner of the warehouse, and another went to wooden crates piled in another part of it. Alberich saw them lighting the fabrics and the crates on fire, and knew that in moments the fire would spread to everything nearby, including the walls of the building itself, but he couldn't stop them. He watched helplessly as the men left, watched as the flames grew bigger and started looking for new fuel.

Alberich struggled against his restraints, but the ropes were tight and the knots were good and held against all his attempts, only tightening as he struggled. His hands were tied behind his back, so he couldn't open the knots of the ropes around his ankles and legs.

The fire spread to the walls, and spread up them faster than Alberich could have imagined. The air grew uncomfortably hot, and he was no closer to getting rid of the ropes. He cursed, writhing and struggling even harder, but the knots still held and the rope was too thick to break. The ropes gnawed through his skin as he struggled, making deep and wide circles of blood around his wrists and ankles.

The roof caught on fire. The air was so hot now that it hurt to breathe. Alberich remembered the Sunpriests' fires in Karse, remembered the fire he'd been put into. Panic grew in his chest, making him hyperventilate until it was impossible to tell if it was hard to breathe because of that, or because of hot air, or because the fire ate all the oxygen from the air.

_:Alberich!:_, he heard the paniced scream, but he was so terrified now he hardly recognized it as his own name, and did not realize who it was.

In his mind he was back in Karse, burning in the Sunpriest's fire, and his life as a Herald was nothing but a hallucination of his dying mind. He heard nothing but the fire's roaring, knew nothing but fear anymore, understood nothing. His lungs burned. He coughed, hard, and struggled to breathe. His vision was fading in and out. He closed his eyes. He felt sick. He'd fallen down at some point, now he struggled to his knees for long enough to throw up. Sunlord, how it hurt, everything was only pain now, pain and terror.

A window on the wall above him, of dirty, bad-quality class, shattered. The shards rained on Alberich, blisteringly hot and very sharp. Unknowingly he writhed and tossed in pain, only to cut himself further to the glass shards. He was afraid, he was so very afraid.

Part of the roof collapsed, throwing sparks everywhere. Some of the sparks landed on Alberich's clothes, lighting them on fire.

Outside there were Heralds, Guards, and ordinary citizens gathered about the burning warehouse, watering the walls of nearby buildings to prevent the fire from spreading. A few people tried throwing water on the actual flames, but most had by now understood that the warehouse was lost and much more water was needed to put the fire out than they could by hand get.

Then out of the darkness behind them appeared a riderless Companion, his blue eyes gleaming with madness. He screamed with such agony in his voice that it hurt to hear, and charged towards the flames.

"Isn't that Kantor?" Herald Vostel asked aloud, watching as the Companion continued its charge.

The next thing out of his mouth was a startled yelp as his Companion Ferran jumped in front of Kantor. Kantor stopped suddenly, narrowly avoiding colliding into Ferran. He screamed again, with fury, panic, and pain in his voice, and tried to go around Ferran, who again stepped to block his way.

Meanwhile Vostel began piecing it together. It had been Alberich, through Kantor, to warn them, hadn't it? And now Kantor was _here_, screaming, riderless...

_:Gods! Alberich is in there, isn't he?:_ Vostel asked his Companion.

He saw the other Herald, Hedric, coming to the same conclusion. 

"Lord and Lady, how are we going to get him out of there? Is there anything we can do?" Vostel asked.

"I do have a Fetching-Gift. Not as strong as my Mindspeech, and certainly not strong enough that I'd dare try move a living person, but I could probably get some water from the river and drop it on top of the building. It should be more effective than throwing a few bucketfuls at a time, but..."

"Well do it then, can't do us any harm to try!"

Ferran was still trying to keep Kantor away from the flames, so Vostel slid down from his back. He took a bucket of water and threw it at the inferno that had been a warehouse. The nearby buildings were wet enough by now to not catch on fire anyway. 

People followed the Herald's example, shifting their attention to the actual fire. Meanwhile Hedric managed to Fetch the first load of water. There was steam as the water fell on the flames, and for a moment the fire burned lower before reaching up again. The second attempt from Hedric, together with the bucketfuls thrown at the building, produced similar effect. On the sixth try the flames burned a little lower, but there was much still not extinguished. On the seventh try, there was a crack and a shower of sparks among the steam, as yet another part of the roof collapsed.

The first grey light to signal the morning's nearing was on the sky when the last flames finally went out. The Heralds as well as everyone else were exhausted. Hedric was swaying on his feet. He'd used his Gift so much he'd likely have a nasty headache for weeks. Vostel knew he'd have to take the lead.

According to Ferran, Kantor was still too mad from worry, pain, and grief to tell even if his Herald was alive or not. It wasn't a good sign, but Vostel knew he had to try.

"Get a Healer", he said to one of the Guards still there. "There's reason to believe someone was in there during the fire."

The Guard's eyes flickered to Kantor. She nodded and left. A few more of the Guards, hearing Vostel's words, came about to see if they could help in some way.

The walls of the warehouse had burned down until they were barely Vostel's height. From the doorway he could see only piles of charred wood and debris. Yet, when he mentally scanned the building, he Felt a weak presence. It was fading in and out, and even when he could feel it, it was so weak the owner had to be unconscious. It was too weak to have a personal signature from which Vostel could've told who it was, but he had a guess already.

By that scan, he headed towards the back wall, six Guards following him. There he found a pile of debris higher than in most spots. It had been formed by two of the logs holding the roof falling so that they'd been braced against the wall in one end, and against the ground in the other. Other bits of wood had fallen on them, but underneath them could have been an empty place.

Vostel pointed wordlessly towards the pile. Over the course of the next half a candlemark they managed to lift enough of the debris to see that yes, there had been some empty space beneath the logs. It was only just big enough for an adult.

Alberich was there, curled up tightly on his side, his face against his knees, one arm above his head as if in an attempt to protect it. His clothes had mostly burned away, leaving charred rags barely big enough to cover him. The ropes binding him hand also burned away, but from the circular wounds aruond his ankles and wrists it wasn't hard to guess what had happened. All over Alberich's body, among and on top of the old scars were now more terrible burns. This time his face had been almost completely spared from damage, but the old scars and the mask of pain it was twisted into now were horrifying to look at in themselves.

"Go see if the Healer I called for is here", Vostel said. "It might be better not to even move him until the Healer says so."

It didn't take long for the guard to come back with the Healer. The green-robed Healer knelt down next to Alberich with a worried expression on his face. He laid one hand on Alberich's neck and closed his eyes. After a moment he opened his eyes again.

"It's alright, he can be safely moved. The quicker we get him to the House of Healing, the better. There's too much damage for me to fix right now and here. If you'd be so kind as to help me, Herald..."

As they lifted Alberich, he moaned in pain and tried to draw away from them. They carried Alberich carefully out into the street, where the Healer knelt down by his side again, a frown of concentration on his face. When he rose again, he was a little paler and his hands shook slightly.

"I've done what I right now can. He's stable enough to last until I get him up the hill and to the hands of more experienced Healers", he announced.

Kantor came closer, and nuzzled Alberich's face anxiously. The Healer looked at him quietly for a while.

"You're his Companion, huh?" he asked. "Well, what d'you say if I put him on your back and we take him to the House of Healing now?"

Kantor nodded his head. He laid down on the ground so the Healer could easily get Alberich on his back. Once on Kantor's back, Alberich unconsciously grabbed Kantor's mane with one hand.

Kantor rose. He and the Healer headed towards the Palace and House of Healing, leaving the Heralds to deal with the rest.

Alberich woke up slowly, sliding softly into consciousness. The first thing he knew was pain. It felt dulled in the strange way the Healers' painkillers tended to do, but it was still there, still so strong it nearly drowned everything else out.

The next thing he knew was memories, flames all around him, breathing but still feeling as if he wasn't getting any air. Pain. Fire. The fear linked to those memories crushed his heart and felt heavy on his chest. It made breathing feel hard and painful, and that only drove him into a deeper panic.

Then he felt a calming presence near his mind's edges. It touched him, softly, kindly, and he leaned into that presence, hoping it would drive away the fear.

_:I am here, Chosen:_, he heard Kantor's mindvoice say. _:It is over. You are safe.:_

_:Oh, Kantor -:_, he began, then stopped, not knowing what to say.

_:Calm down. I am here. The pain will pass. Let go of the fear, Chosen, you are safe now:_, Kantor said again.

Alberich touched Kantor's warm presence with his own mind, seeking comfort he never would have admitted needing. Kantor gave it freely. As long as they both were alive, neither would ever be truly alone, and at that moment that was to Alberich worth everything he had lost because of his Gifts.

He didn't know how long a time they simply touched each other's minds, not speaking, only being together in silence. Finally Alberich's heart stopped racing, and the fear faded, although it did not completely leave. Hesistantly he drew slightly away, and Kantor did the same.

_:When will you stop intentionally getting into trouble?:_ Kantor asked him, both a spark of laughter and true worry in his voice.

_:When spies are no longer needed. Or when I meet my end:_, Alberich replied with a mindspeak equivalent of a grim chuckle.

Kantor sighed, but alongside the frustration Alberich also felt acceptance radiating from his Companion. He sent one more wordless surge of love over their bond, and received one from Kantor, before drawing further away back to their usual level of contact.


End file.
